Considering the features in changing the structure and properties of rare earth titanates pyrochlores, the substituted Dy2 Ti2 O7 may be very attractive for various applications. Effect of Sm and Y substitution on the structural properties of Dy2 Ti2 O7 ceramic was established. These ceramics were prepared by solid-state reaction and characterized by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. Both analysis show that YDyTi2 O7 with the pyrochlore structure is obtained after heating at 1400°C, but SmDyTi2 O7 has already formed after sintering at 1200°C...

Magnetocrystalline anisotropy, the microscopic origin of permanent magnetism, is often explained in terms of ferromagnets. However, the best performing permanent magnets based on rare earths and transition metals (RE-TM) are in fact ferrimagnets, consisting of a number of magnetic sublattices. Here we show how a naive calculation of the magnetocrystalline anisotropy of the classic RE-TM ferrimagnet GdCo_{5} gives numbers that are too large at 0 K and exhibit the wrong temperature dependence. We solve this problem by introducing a first-principles approach to calculate temperature-dependent magnetization versus field (FPMVB) curves, mirroring the experiments actually used to determine the anisotropy...

Using in situ synchrotron x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy in concert with first principles calculations we demonstrate the synthesis of stable Xe(Fe,Fe/Ni)_{3} and XeNi_{3} compounds at thermodynamic conditions representative of Earth's core. Surprisingly, in the case of both the Xe-Fe and Xe-Ni systems Fe and Ni become highly electronegative and can act as oxidants. The results indicate the changing chemical properties of elements under extreme conditions by documenting that electropositive at ambient pressure elements could gain electrons and form anions...

Ammonia and amines are important common trace atmospheric species that can enhance new particle formation (NPF) in the Earth's atmosphere. However, the synergistic effect of these two bases involving nucleation is still lacking. We studied the most stable geometric structures and thermodynamics of quaternary (NH3)(CH3NH2)(H2SO4)m(H2O)n (m = 1-3, n = 0-4) clusters at the PW91PW91/6-311++G(3df,3pd) level of theory for the first time. We find that the proton transfer from H2SO4 molecule to CH3NH2 molecule is easier than to NH3 molecule in the free or hydrated H2SO4-base clusters, and thus leads to the stability...

Room temperature all solid-state Na-S batteries (ASNSBs) using sulfide solid electrolytes are a promising next-generation battery technology due to the high energy, enhanced safety, and earth abundant resources of both sodium and sulfur. Currently, the sulfide electrolyte ASNSBs are fabricated by simple cold-pressing process leaving with high residential stress. Even worse, the large volume change of S/Na2S during charge/discharge cycles induces additional stress, seriously weakening the less-contacted interfaces among the solid electrolyte, active materials and the electron conductive agent that are formed in the cold-pressing process...

The Arctic is being disproportionally affected by climate change compared with other geographic locations, and is currently experiencing unprecedented melt rates. The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) can be regarded as the largest supraglacial ecosystem on Earth, and ice algae are the dominant primary producers on bare ice surfaces throughout the course of a melt season. Ice-algal-derived pigments cause a darkening of the ice surface, which in turn decreases albedo and increases melt rates. The important role of ice algae in changing melt rates has only recently been recognized, and we currently know little about their community compositions and functions...

The use of pesticides in agriculture can make their way into the earth and wash into the amphibian system causing ecological stress. This study aims to understand the changes occurring in gill tissues as a result of fenvalerate exposure using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The intensity ratio of the selected bands I1545 /I1657, I2924 /I2853 , and I1045 /I1545 measures changes in proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates. Curve-fitting analysis was performed in the selected band region to analyze the quantitative changes of proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates...

Hydrogen has been thought to be an important light element in Earth's core due to possible siderophile behavior during core-mantle segregation. We reproduced planetary differentiation conditions using hydrogen contents of 450 to 1500 parts per million (ppm) in the silicate phase, pressures of 5 to 20 GPa, oxygen fugacity varying within IW-3.7 and IW-0.2 (0.2 to 3.7 log units lower than iron-wüstite buffer), and Fe alloys typical of planetary cores. We report hydrogen metal-silicate partition coefficients of ~2 × 10-1 , up to two orders of magnitude lower than reported previously, and indicative of lithophile behavior...

The severity of recent droughts in semiarid regions is increasingly attributed to anthropogenic climate change, but it is unclear whether these moisture anomalies exceed those of the past and how past variability compares to future projections. On the Mongolian Plateau, a recent decade-long drought that exceeded the variability in the instrumental record was associated with economic, social, and environmental change. We evaluate this drought using an annual reconstruction of the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) spanning the last 2060 years in concert with simulations of past and future drought through the year 2100 CE...

Here, we review information on how plants face redox imbalance caused by climate change, and focus on the role of nitric oxide (NO) in this response. Life on Earth is possible thanks to greenhouse effect. Without it, temperature on Earth's surface would be around -19°C, instead of the current average of 14°C. Greenhouse effect is produced by greenhouse gasses (GHG) like water vapor, carbon dioxide (CO2 ), methane (CH4 ), nitrous oxides (Nx O) and ozone (O3 ). GHG have natural and anthropogenic origin. However, increasing GHG provokes extreme climate changes such as floods, droughts and heat, which induce reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidative stress in plants...

Plants influence extreme heat events by regulating land-atmosphere water and energy exchanges. The contribution of plants to changes in future heat extremes will depend on the responses of vegetation growth and physiology to the direct and indirect effects of elevated CO2 . Here we use a suite of earth system models to disentangle the radiative versus vegetation effects of elevated CO2 on heat wave characteristics. Vegetation responses to a quadrupling of CO2 increase summer heat wave occurrence by 20 days or more-30-50% of the radiative response alone-across tropical and mid-to-high latitude forests...

We review the salient evidence consistent with or predicted by the Hoyle-Wickramasinghe (H- W) thesis of Cometary (Cosmic) Biology. Much of this physical and biological evidence is multifactorial. One particular focus are the recent studies which date the emergence of the complex retroviruses of vertebrate lines at or just before the Cambrian Explosion of ∼500 Ma. Such viruses are known to be plausibly associated with major evolutionary genomic processes. We believe this coincidence is not fortuitous but is consistent with a key prediction of H-W theory whereby major extinction-diversification evolutionary boundaries coincide with virus-bearing cometary-bolide bombardment events...

Patients receiving long-term parenteral nutrition (PN) are exposed to potentially toxic elements, which may accumulate in bone. Bone samples collected from seven PN patients (average = 14 years) and eighteen hip/knee samples were analyzed for Al as part of a previous investigation. Yttrium was serendipitously detected in the PN bone samples, leading to the present investigation of rare earth elements (REEs). A method for quantitating fifteen REEs in digested bone was developed based on tandem ICP-MS (ICP-MS/MS) to resolve spectral interferences...

It is essential to synthesize low-cost, earth-abundant bifunctional electrocatalysts&#13; for both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) for&#13; water electrolysis. Herein, we present a one-step sulfurization method to fabricate&#13; Ni3S2 nanowires directly grown on Ni foam (Ni3S2 NWs/Ni) as such an electrocatalyst.&#13; This synthetic strategy has several advantages including facile preparation, low cost&#13; and even can be expanded to large-scale preparation in the practical application...

The liver and the mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS) is a frequent target for engineered nanomaterials (ENMs), either as a result of particle uptake and spread from primary exposure sites or systemic administration of therapeutic and imaging nanoparticles. In this study, we performed a comparative analysis of the toxicological impact of 29 metal oxide (MOx) nanoparticles (NPs), some commonly used in consumer products, in transformed or primary Kupffer cells (KCs) and hepatocytes. Not only did we observe differences between KC and hepatocytes, but also differences in the toxicological profiles of transition metal oxides (TMOs, e...

Northern ecosystems are experiencing some of the most dramatic impacts of global change on Earth. Rising temperatures, hydrological intensification, changes in atmospheric acid deposition and associated acidification recovery, and changes in vegetative cover are resulting in fundamental changes in terrestrial-aquatic biogeochemical linkages. The effects of global change are readily observed in alterations in the supply of dissolved organic matter (DOM) - the messenger between terrestrial and lake ecosystems - with potentially profound effects on the structure and function of lakes...

We present a measurement of the atmospheric neutrino oscillation parameters using three years of data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. The DeepCore infill array in the center of IceCube enables the detection and reconstruction of neutrinos produced by the interaction of cosmic rays in Earth's atmosphere at energies as low as ∼5 GeV. That energy threshold permits measurements of muon neutrino disappearance, over a range of baselines up to the diameter of the Earth, probing the same range of L/E_{ν} as long-baseline experiments but with substantially higher-energy neutrinos...

Lateral variations of seismic wave speeds and attenuation (dissipation of strain energy) in the Earth's upper mantle have the potential to map key characteristics such as temperature, major-element composition, melt fraction and water content. The inversion of these data into meaningful representations of physical properties requires a robust understanding of the micromechanical processes that affect the propagation of seismic waves. Structurally bound water (hydroxyl) is believed to affect seismic properties but this has yet to be experimentally quantified...

Intergranular pressure solution creep is an important deformation mechanism in the Earth's crust. The phenomenon has been frequently studied and several analytical models have been proposed that describe its constitutive behavior. These models require assumptions regarding the geometry of the aggregate and the grain size distribution in order to solve for the contact stresses and often neglect shear tractions. Furthermore, analytical models tend to overestimate experimental compaction rates at low porosities, an observation for which the underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated...

The concentration and distribution of rare earth elements (REE) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) were measured to investigate connections with tumor size, lymph node metastasis, clinical stages, and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. There were 30 patients with NPC who met the criteria for inclusion in the present study. The EBV copy number, as well as the concentration and distribution of REE, was analyzed. EBV was detected using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, with the concentrations of REE in NPC tissues measured using inductively coupled plasma-tandem mass spectrometry...